Apple’s much anticipated event today has set the rumour mills running into overdrive. If the wisdom of the crowds is to be believed then Apple’s announcement will unveil the new iPad 3.

Demand for the iPad 3 online reached its peak in the last week as 1 in every 2000 searches online were iPad 3 related. ‘ipad 3’ accounted for 18.5% of all searches containing the word ‘ipad’ – six times more searches than there were for ‘ipad 2’.

Having grouped together all of the iPad 3 search terms into a portfolio the recurring terms which people were searching for were for release dates, news, specs and prices. First and foremost among the UK consumer queries was when the iPad 3 would be released, with 19% of all iPad 3 searches in the 12 weeks ending 3 March containing the word ‘release’.

News and rumours accounted for 1.5% of all iPad 3 searches, whereas 0.1% of the searches specifically asked if the new device would have flash on it.
Our downstream data shows who were the top recipients last week from all iPad 3 searches. Unsurprisingly, as Apple itself keeps its cards very close to its chest, the amount of traffic it received is relatively low at less than 0.5% of iPad 3 search clicks. In the absence of official confirmation from Apple, the sites which are seen as authorities on rumours, news and gossip for the iPad 3 are techradar, CNET, the Daily Mail and BBC News.

Although the consensus seems to be that today’s announcement will be iPad related there has also been a spike in searches around Apple TV. Looking at the fast moving search terms containing the word ‘apple’ in the last week, the third and fourth fastest moving terms by volume were ‘apple tv 3’ and ‘new apple tv’ which doubled in search volume in the last week.

It is also worth noting that the last time Apple geared up to make a big announcement in October 2011 consumers were convinced that this would be the heralding of the iPhone 5. Searches for iPhone 5 were five times higher than for iPhone 4 in the first week of October, only for Apple to release the iPhone 4S, which was a surprise for many.
Ultimately only Apple know what is going to happen later on today. It could be the iPad 3 (and the UK has shown quite an appetite for it) but equally it might be a less momentous release of a software upgrade. Either way, we will be watching the trends online with great interest and will keep you up to date on the latest information on Twitter.